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John Chowning

CCRMA Role: 
Faculty/Staff
Preferred Email (public): 
jc_at_ccrma_dot_stanford_dot_edu
Current Employer: 
Stanford University (emeritus faculty)
About Me: 

Chowning was born in Salem, New Jersey in 1934, spending his school years in Wilmington, Delaware. Following military service and four years at Wittenberg University, he studied composition in Paris with Nadia Boulanger.  He received the doctorate in composition (DMA) from Stanford University in 1966, where he studied with Leland Smith.  In 1964, with the help of Max Mathews of Bell Telephone Laboratories and David Poole of Stanford University, he set up a computer music program using the computer system of Stanford's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Beginning the same year he began the research that led to the first generalized surround sound localization algorithm.  Chowning discovered the frequency modulation synthesis (FM) algorithm in 1967. This breakthrough in the synthesis of timbres allowed a very simple yet elegant way of creating and controlling time-varying spectra. Inspired by the perceptual research of Jean-Claude Risset, he worked toward turning this discovery into a system of musical importance, using it extensively in his compositions.  In 1973 Stanford University licensed the FM synthesis patent to Yamaha in Japan, leading to the most successful synthesis engine in the history of electronic musical instruments. Interview about FM synthesis Jun 17, 2015, Barcelona, https://rwm.macba.cat/en/sonia/sonia-212-john-chowning 

Chowning was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1988 and awarded the Honorary Doctor of Music by Wittenberg University in 1990.  The French Ministre de la Culture awarded him the Diplôme d’Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres in 1995. He was given the Doctorat Honoris Causa in 2002 by the Université de la Méditerranée, by Queen’s University in 2010, Hamburg University in 2016. and Laureate of the Giga-Hertz-Award in 2013.  He taught computer-sound synthesis and composition at Stanford University's Department of Music.  In 1974, with John Grey, James (Andy) Moorer, Loren Rush and Leland Smith, he founded the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), which remains one of the leading centers for computer music and related research.

File Attachment: 
application/pdf iconFifty Years of Computer Music: Ideas of the Past Speak to the Future
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application/pdf iconTurenas - The Realization of a Dream
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application/pdf iconThe Synthesis of Complex Audio Spectra by Means of Frequency Modulation (with updated figures)
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video/quicktime iconBoulez presents STRIA in 1980 at Théatre d'Orsay, Paris (audio only)
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application/pdf iconBoulez presents STRIA in 1980 at Théatre d'Orsay, Paris (text French/English)
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application/msword iconAnalysis of STRIA by L. Zattra — http://brahms.ircam.fr/analyses/Stria/
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application/zip iconMax's famous article November 1963
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application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation iconicmc2017-jc-keynote.pptx At the Shanghai Conservatory of Music
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application/msword iconInterview — Ligeti's 1st visit to US at Stanford in 1972 speaks of his introduction to computer music
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application/zip iconTribute to Jean-Claude Risset, May 2-3, 2018- with Videos of all of the presentations
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application/pdf iconlinks to Interviews/Articles
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application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document iconTHE SIMULATION OF MOVING SOUND SOURCES
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application/pdf iconFrom Spatialization to Scientific Probes of Acoustic Spaces.
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application/pdf iconsnd-based analysis of Phonē, rich context by Reiner Krämer
File Attachment: 
application/pdf iconNotes for the IMPREC Rec,. including the correct version of Stria
Research: 
The Simulation of Moving Sound Sources
The Synthesis of Complex Audio Spectra by Means of Frequency Modulation
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CCRMA
Department of Music
Stanford University
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